


Reflections.

by mythborne



Series: Reflections.... [1]
Category: Twilight Series - All Media Types, Twilight Series - Stephenie Meyer
Genre: Angst, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, also introducing other things...so be prepared for that., im turning Twilight on it's head simply because i can
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-24
Updated: 2020-10-23
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:28:21
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 11,309
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26625190
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mythborne/pseuds/mythborne
Summary: They say that fate has a plan for you, a well-written outline of what is to happen. And each second that ticks by in your life is you living out that ideal. Bella Swan thought she knew the course of her fate, thought she knew the outcome her life would take. But after one little innocuous papercut - gotta love her clumsiness - she was learning that fate had other ideas entirely.
Relationships: Bella/Edward (mentioned), Charlotte/Peter (Twilight), Demetri (Twilight)/Original Character(s), Jasper Hale/Bella Swan
Series: Reflections.... [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1936936
Comments: 5
Kudos: 50





	1. Chapter 1

**\- Bella -**

If there was one thing that was almost infinite in its wisdom, was that people were always going to make mistakes. Be it because they’d done something wrong and were now learning the outcome of such a choice. Or it was because they allowed something to guide them towards a decision that soon turned out to be the worst decision they could make. That type of mistake was one that couldn’t be corrected until it slapped you in the face. Even then, there was sometimes no mistake.

For Bella Swan, her awakening came in the form of a dream. One which even now more than ten minutes since she’d awoken from it clung to the edges of her mind. Her brain analysing every aspect that had played out behind her closed eyes. The vivid memory of seeing herself as an old woman - who looked strikingly like her grandmother - and Edward as perfect as he always was.

To any therapist worth their salt, the dream would appear as nothing more than Bella’s worries over growing older. Yet she knew it was far more than that. At first glance, it was Bella’s worries that in terms of human years, she was now older than her forever stuck at seventeen boyfriend - _Edward_. Yet, a small niggling part of her, a part she had worked so hard to silence in the past few months couldn’t help but whisper it’s deadly intent into her ear.

Even now as Bella stared into the mirror above the bathroom sink, her worries were painted inside her chocolate orbs with such intensity she was positive others could read them. Her worries could be summarised with one simple word - eternity. Ever since finding out that Edward was a vampire it had settled between them like a lead weight. In her mind, she knew that it was also the course of action her own life would take, there was no discussion over the prospect of being a vampire. _It was in her future_.

And after James’ attack, paired with the knowledge of just how much her blood tempted Edward. It seemed - _at least in retrospect_ \- as the only course of action. In her weakened human state, she was a liability to the family, her mere presence was testing their hardened control and punishing Edward. They couldn’t be themselves around her, always having to monitor how they held her, how fast they moved. It shouldn’t have had to be like that.

The vampire family she’d grown attached too shouldn’t have had to limit themselves because of a weakling like her. Factor in the dark thoughts in her mind and it left Bella to question whether she truly wanted to entangle herself within their lives anymore. Did she want to live eternally with the family?. Forever doomed to repeat high school and move from town to town every five years. Sit on the sidelines and watch as everyone she knew in her short life, _pass on and die without her_.

If Edward asked her, the question would be unmitigated, _Yes_. But here, where her thoughts and actions were her own for a short period of time. Bella truly wondered if the path to immortality was one she wanted to walk. That thought alone had spawned more than a handful of dreams that left her feeling breathless as she came back to the land of the living, the one she’d just had being but another slither in a complicated puzzle.

She loved Edward. Bella knew that, though she couldn’t help but wonder did she love him enough to give up her life. Or was she lost underneath the shiny sheen of first love? Edward, having been the first boy to truly see her, to see beneath the many layers and walls she had buried herself under due to having to grow up far quicker than a girl her age should have done.

Banishing the thoughts away with a shake of her head, she concentrates on finishing her morning routine. Her hands skillfully pulled up the long tendrils of her hair into a loose ponytail, not wishing to watch as the ends of her hair curled once more due to the moisture in the air. A soft snort fluttering off her lips at how long it had gotten - _yet Bella had no recollection of choosing to let it grow_ \- but it was just another thing she couldn’t be bothered to think about right now.

Quickly getting dressed into her usual ensemble of jeans, two shirts and her converse she grabs her school bag from where it leant against her dresser and slowly made her way down the stairs. Chocolate orbs watching each step with care as it was well within Bella’s ability to fall down them headfirst and spend a good portion of her time in the ER on her birthday.

“Morning kiddo.” 

The soft bass of her father’s voice was enough to cause Bella to jump, her hands instantly clamping down on the wooden frame of the railing to prevent her face planting the floor via the last two steps. Wide eyes drifting upwards to see her father stood at the bottom, a mischievous grin hidden beneath his moustache as he watched her try to reign in her intense heart rate. Descending the last of the steps with care, she stops before her dad. A small smile mirroring his own and Bella can’t help but pray he doesn’t realise how false the small truly was.

“Happy birthday Bells,” Charlie grins holding out the two gifts in his hand.

 _It took everything within her not to groan_. Bella had expressly stated no presents, both to her parents and to the Cullen’s. Yet Bella was learning that in some cases her words were ignored. She couldn’t fault her parents for wanting to celebrate the day she turned into an adult, their firstborn daughter finally crossing the precipice from teenage to adulthood. It’s with that thought she allows her fake smile to grow a small degree as she throws her arms around her dad in thanks.

Pulling away she looks over the two gifts, a scrapbook from Renee and a camera from Charlie. Bella couldn’t help but wonder who co-ordinated with who on a gift she knew was meant to run in tangent with each other. And listening to Charlie explain it was for her document her senior year, Bella found herself even more willing to accept the gifts.

“Thanks, dad.” 

Once more she wraps her arms around her father, the show of emotion almost strange for the two who tended to avoid such overly flamboyant emotional outbursts. It was one of the things that made Bella so different from Renee, she was a free-spirit, flitting from one thing to another. But Bella was more grounded, her emotions tightly concealed inside and much rather preferred to be alone. _Like Charlie_.

With another small smile, and the decision to skip breakfast, she found her way out to her truck and to school. Bella’s mind pulled forth with ease the remnants of the dream, each minuscule detail playing out and allowing her to dissect and try to understand it. Even now, where the tendrils of sleep had long since passed, she still felt as uncomfortable over it as she’d done the moment she awoke. The realism the dream painted, leaving her once more with more questions than answers or hopes.

If Bella thought her day would get better the moment she got to school, the excitement and silver paper wrapped present in Alice’s hand shot that idea down faster than Bella’s heart could beat. Not even the sight of Edward looking as perfect as he always did could soothe the sting of the knowledge that her wishes regarding her birthday had been ignored. Only Edward’s soft placating words as he remembers not to wish her happy birthday was enough to keep her from turning around and climbing back in her truck to head home.

There was a petulant air around her words as she allowed the aggression at her wishes being ignored to fuel the conversation, her innermost thoughts about being a year older than Edward bleeding out. In foresight, Bella knew she sounded like nothing more than a child, yet it did nothing to stop the fact she’d already spoken the words.

 **_**_ ** “What time will you be at the house?” Alice continued, changing the subject. From her expression, she was up to exactly the kind of thing Bella had been hoping to avoid.

“I didn’t know I had plans to be there.”

“Oh, be fair, Bella!” she complained. “You aren’t going to ruin all our fun like that, are you?”

“I thought my birthday was about what I want.” 

“I’ll get her from Charlie’s right after school,” Edward told her, ignoring Bella altogether.

“I have to work,” Bella protested weakly and yet prayed to some deity out there that the two vampires before her would actually listen.

“You don’t, actually,” Alice told her smugly. “I already spoke to Mrs Newton about it. She’s trading your shifts. She said to tell you ‘Happy Birthday.’”

“I—I still can’t come over,” she stammered, scrambling for an excuse. “I, well, I haven’t watched Romeo and Juliet yet for English.”

Alice snorted. “You have Romeo and Juliet memorized.”

“But Mr Berty said we needed to see it performed to fully appreciate it—that’s how Shakespeare intended it to be presented.”

Edward rolled his eyes, irritation shining in his bright topaz eyes.

“You’ve already seen the movie,” Alice accused.

“But not the nineteen-sixties version. Mr Berty said it was the best.”

Finally, Alice lost the smug smile and glared at me. “This can be easy, or this can be hard, Bella, but one way or the other—”

Edward interrupted her threat. “Relax, Alice. If Bella wants to watch a movie, then she can. It’s her birthday.”

“So there,” she added, letting a small trace of smugness bleed into her voice.

“I’ll bring her over around seven,” he continued. “That will give you more time to set up.”

Alice’s laughter chimed again. “Sounds good. See you tonight, Bella! It’ll be fun, you’ll see.” She grinned—the wide smile exposed all her perfect, glistening teeth—then pecked me on the cheek and danced off toward her first class before I could respond.

“Edward, please —” she started to beg, but he pressed one cool finger to her lips, efficiently silencing her.

“Let’s discuss it later. We’re going to be late for class.” **_**_ **

For the rest of the school day, a wave of silent anger stewed within her. The strength of it would be enough to have Jasper looking at her and wondering if someone had taken her place. Bella had never felt anger so strongly before, not to the limits to which she was feeling it right now. Yet it was there, boiling her blood and leaving her seething.

Her hands aching to reach out and settle around Edward and Alice’s throat and shake them silly. It seemed almost surreal that she would react in such a way, yet she was. It was her birthday, a day in which she should by rights get to make all the decisions pertaining to the day. And watching a movie, in her mind, was just how she wanted to spend that day. But instead, she had been ignored as though her opinion was nothing, as though she was a silent entity that was to be seen not heard.

Every conversation passed with ease and yet she wasn’t completely aware of the words she was speaking. Normally the mention of Romeo would garner her full attention, and whilst she was easily able to discuss the film. Her heart wasn’t in it. Not even as she heard Edward discuss his suicidal ideas with the Volturi, could she bring herself to let go of the anger that simmered inside. The anger at being ignored and pushed to the side.

For the briefest of moments, she hoped Charlie would see the desperation in her eyes and give her a reason to stay at home with him. Doing anything but attending whatever it was that Alice had planned, but of course, her father was as blind as always. Bella didn’t blame him, they were still settling into their father-daughter routine after all.

As they sit outside the Cullen’s house, Edward asking her to behave. She tries to reign in her anger, knowing Jasper was just behind that glass wall and no doubt feeling every shred of emotion that was pulsing through her. Worry becomes prevalent as she is told that Rosalie was there, yet it does nothing to hide the anger. Anger which only grows in strength as she sees the decorations around the house, the obnoxious taste that shined from every surface that didn’t in any form resemble her prefered style.

She is able to put on a facade of peace as she hugs Esme and listens to Carlisle’s joke about not being able to rein Alice in. Even as Emmett jokes and Rosalie looked pleasant for the first time in a while. Yet Bella’s eyes snap to Jasper, confusion swirling in his topaz eyes as he no doubt tastes the emotional cocktail she was throwing around.

Her mind barely registering as Emmett joked about her blush and left the room, instead, her focus was set primarily on Alice and her infectious joy and Jasper by default. If Bella was to take a moment to observe the situation as well as the cocktail of emotions she was currently feeling, there would be a stab of hurt travelling through her at the distance between herself and Jasper.

Bella had thought that the days spent cooped up inside the hotel in Phoenix would have bridged the gap between the two of them, at least becoming a stepping stone towards getting to know each other. All she knew was that in his past life and the start of his vampire one - he was a soldier. Nothing more than that, he was a mystery, a mystery Bella found herself wishing to unravel.

The first gift was from Rosalie, Emmett and Jasper and whilst the empty box was almost a tease, hearing Emmett’s booming laughter and seeing the smile on Jasper’s face. It was almost enough to thaw out the less than civil reaction from Rosalie. Yeah for the reaction from the other two, she’d smile and accept the damn stereo.

Though she’d love to know what everyone had against her damn truck.

 **_**_ ** “Open mine and Edward’s next,” Alice said, so excited her voice was a high-pitched trill. She held a small, flat square in her hand.

With that, Bella turned to give Edward a basilisk glare. “You promised.”

Before he could answer, Emmett bounded through the door. “Just in time!” he crowed. He pushed in behind Jasper, who had also drifted closer than usual to get a good look.

“I didn’t spend a dime,” Edward assured her. He brushed a strand of hair from her face, leaving Bella’s skin tingling from his touch.

Bella inhaled deeply and turned to Alice. “Give it to me,” She sighed.

Emmett chuckled with delight.

With trepidation, Bella took the little package, rolling her eyes at Edward while she stuck her finger under the edge of the paper and jerked it under the tape.

“Shoot,” A soft mutter when the paper sliced her finger; Pulling it out to examine the damage. A single drop of blood oozed from the tiny cut.

It all happened very quickly then. **_**_ **

They say when you are about to die, that your whole life flashes before your eyes. But Bella didn’t see her whole life, instead, she saw the room before her. Yet where normally the vampire speed would make it impossible for her to see anything, it was as if everything had been slowed. Her chocolate gaze lighting on everything in the room but staying locked on Jasper.

His eyes were a deep black that would put onyx to shame, the whites of his eyes non-existent, and to an outsider, it would seem as though the one in his sights - _his exceptionally hungry sights_ \- was Bella herself. The demon inside of him wanting to taste the sweet ambrosia flowing in her veins. And yet, something in Bella told her that wasn’t it. He didn’t want to feed from her, he wanted to protect her. 

Bella wasn’t sure what it was, but at that moment she saw the soldier that was Jasper. Whilst she didn’t know all his story, she knew enough to know that right now she was looking at the Major. Not the softened version of himself that he’d become whilst with the Cullen’s. And those dark molasses eyes were trained with a razor-sharp intensity on a spot behind her.

Before Bella’s body could even begin to comprehend her decision to turn around, a sharp pain erupts along her collarbone. A rocket scientist could figure out what was happening as the flames of fire begin to lick their way across her body, pain blooming along every nerve as she felt Edward’s teeth cut through the delicate skin of her body and drink deep of the life source he had been craving since the moment she walked into that dreaded biology class.

It was almost ironic in a way, some deep part of her had known that despite the rock-solid control he paraded in front of her, the siren song of her blood was too hard for him to ignore. He cherished it like a pirate did his treasure and even one drop spilling down the creamy expanse of her skin was too much of a waste for his inner demon to comprehend. Bella was almost positive that Edward had craved another taste since that day in the ballet studio, the taste he’d had of her blood as he erased the traces of venom was a tease and he wanted it all.

 _Which he was now getting_.

Her heartbeat rang like the gongs of a funeral procession in her ears but underneath that she could hear the greedy pulls and swallows of Edward as he gorged himself on his prize. Darkness starts to encroach on the peripherals of her sight and with bleary eyes she looks at the family surrounding them. Even in her frail state, so close to death she could taste it in the back of her throat, she could see surprise permeating every inch of their frames. As though they’d been rendered to stone with shock.

Rosalie was the most shocking to Bella’s weakened state as she sees sorrow burrow itself in the blondes topaz eyes and it enders Bella even more speechless than she currently was. Yet a part of her knew there was nothing she could do about it now, death had finally stopped dancing in her shadow and had come to claim her. 

Slowly as to memorize every one of them she drags her eyes over each of the Cullen’s in tow, cataloguing and sorting the looks on their faces as they stared silently. Frozen in place. Yet shock is what she feels as she looks over at Alice and for the barest minimum of seconds she could see glee shining along the pixie’s face. As though everything had played out just like she predicted, right down to Bella being Edward’s midnight treat.

 _A small part of Bella didn’t doubt it_.

Finally, her eyes land back on the sinful molasses gaze of Jasper, his whole body coiled like a snake ready to strike within the confines of Emmett’s tree-trunk arms. His lips peeled back from his teeth to the point Bella could see his gums, the dim light shining off the venom coating his teeth and for a moment she believed she could see as droplets fell into the curve of Emmett’s elbow.

With a slow blink, Jasper finally wrenches himself free from Emmett. The force of his escape sending the much bigger vampire stumbling back as a deep resonating roar rang through the air, the glass windows of the house shattering in response. Before Bella stood the true reflection of a vampire, he was glorious in his rage, hard lines contorting to show the dying human just which member of the coven had true power. It was none of the pacifists that pretended to be human.

 _It was the soldier before her_.

“Jasper – ” 

The soft utterance of his name is lost to the silence as she allows the darkness to swallow her whole, yet in those scant seconds, before she drowns under the weight of nothing, she swore she heard Jasper’s answering growl. At that moment she found a sense of victory flooding through her, her death wasn’t in vain and the soldier of death was going to make the one that ended her life pay. _In the most vicious way_.

She felt oddly pleased with that outcome.


	2. Happy fucking birthday.

**\- Jasper -**

As an empath, Jasper truly believed he had felt every emotion there was and the depths to which one could feel it. And yet the shock that rattled his stone body as every member of his ‘family’ watched Edward attack, was one he knew he had never felt before. The depth of it was enough to rock him and leave him immobile in the strong and unyielding hold of Emmett, his obsidian eyes staring at the scene before him in morbid fascination.

Jasper had witnessed the death of many humans - been the cause of even more - yet standing there and watching as Edward brought Bella towards that very precipice awoke something deep within Jasper. Her blood wasn’t enticing him, the moment it had permeated the air he’d stopped breathing and slowly took a step backwards to escape the situation lest he test his resolve.

 _But then he’d felt it_.

The emotions had crashed into him like a freight train and had he been human he knew it would have left him breathless and gasping on the floor. Everyone else was fighting their own bloodlust, the tempting taste of Bella’s blood calling to their baser instincts, only Carlisle was safe from the lull of that siren song. Yet Jasper was focused solely on the emotional climate that was swirling deep within Edward and Alice.

He wasn’t too surprised to feel Edward’s control slipping, that wasn’t surprising given she was his singer, yet it was the swirl of possession that had grasped onto him tightly that had Jasper’s eyebrow-raising minutely and causing the demon inside to slowly awake from the pits of hell. Gone was the love that Edward had previously felt for the human, and now in the eyes of Edward, she was nothing more than a snack. A snack he wasn’t sharing.

In the counted space between Bella’s slow heartbeats, Jasper lets his mind retrace over the last few weeks. Vivid clarity allows him to pull forth memories of the times Bella was within the house and the emotional cocktail that was her and Edward. Bella’s emotions were stronger with each day, her love encompassing around the family and pulling them all into her heart. But with new eyes, Jasper could see the waning depth of Edward’s love.

Before it was almost suffocating the weight of it, a glaring companion to Rosalie and Emmett’s. Yet in the past few weeks, it was nothing more than a possessive love. Gone was the gleam of love and in its place was something so dark and twisted. Jasper hated that he had missed it, missed the way Bella’s purity would swallow Edward’s whole and hiding the darkness that resided in Edward.

 _Jasper felt like an ass_.

Then on top of that glaring clarity, he felt Alice, the malicious glee that swirled within was out of place in someone with emotions that normally emitted peace and happiness. He didn’t understand it’s meaning. Yet as he watched the events unfold, reacted accordingly till his own body held within Emmett’s arms he realised that Alice had seen it all play out and was letting it all happen. She wanted Bella dead for some reason and a papercut and Edward were the weapons she was using to bring it to purpose.

That solidifying thought was enough for Jasper to finally shake off the shackles that was Emmett’s grip and an animalistic roar to rip free of his throat. Jasper barely registers the sound of the glass shattering in response, his razor-sharp focus set sorely on Edward. His mind filled with nothing but darkness as his inner demon led the charge of his instincts.

“Jasper – ” 

The soft utterance of his name manages to flutter through the white noise buzzing through his ears, his answering growl was more animalistic than human, he knew it, he relished in it. And Jasper’s next actions were ones he couldn’t truly remember making, his hands settling around Edward’s neck and with a sharp snack, the rendering of concrete rings out within the vast room as he throws the head carelessly over his shoulder.

His granite hands cupping Bella to him before her body could fall to the floor, obsidian eyes tracking over every inch of her to assess the damage done to her frail body. A deep lungful of air was enough to confirm the worry he had already been thinking as he released Edward of his head.

 _She was dying_.

Edward had no intentions of turning her and the weak amount of venom in her veins confirmed that. Her heart was fighting to pump much-needed blood and oxygen around her body and yet the fight had already been fought and lost. Her life was slipping away with each slow beat and it was just something Jasper couldn’t let happen. It was a travesty to watch the life of Bella Swan slip away just like that. Ironic really when he remembered that not long ago he was petitioning for her death and now here he was actively fighting for her survival. But that would be something he’d think about later.

Much later.

With barely a second of indecision, he leans down, his teeth lining up perfectly with the marks Edward left behind and then they’re piercing the warm flesh of her skin. The taste of her barely registers on his tongue as he works to push venom into her veins. The only thing that could save her, the only thing he could think to do at that moment. Pulling back he seals the wound, trapping his venom inside before repeating the bite to her wrist. His teeth erasing the mark left behind by James and pushing even more venom into her veins. 

Slowly he becomes aware of the emotions around him, the anger swirling around the other members of the Cullen clan and he just knows he’s about to get one hell of a lecture. But he didn’t care, instead, he remained focused on Bella, praying that the venom worked. And it’s only as she lets out a scream that would put a banshee mating call to shame does he finally breathe out in relief.

Lowering her gently to the floor, he turns to face the family, a minuscule raise of his brow the only sign that they now had his full attention. And none of them wasted time. It always amused Jasper, how vehemently the family believed they were all correct and their opinion was the one that mattered. Before he had simply ignored it opting for peace. But as he listened to them all talk over each other, labelling him a monster, did he truly see them for what they were.

 _Immature children_.

Sighing Jasper stands up, his hand clenching at his side as he listens to them labelling him as the problem. How Bella now turning was his fault and if he’d just kept control none of this would have happened. He wanted to laugh, were they that stupid to put this on him. It wasn’t his teeth in Bella’s throat that took her to death’s door - it was the golden boys.

Shaking his head he pushes past them and heads upstairs, his hearing focused intently on Bella as he heads into his and Alice’s room. His actions are purely instinctual as he flits around packing a bag. Ignoring the clothes Alice usually dressed him in and instead grabbing his jeans and shirts he preferred to wear. He wasn’t an idiot - he knew he was no longer a Cullen. It was painted in bright neon on Carlisle’s face.

Heading out of the room and across the hallway to his office, he blinks slowly as Carlisle appears in front of him. Jasper didn't need to taste his emotions to know what he was feeling, the disgust and contempt were shining in his topaz eyes. Once moe Carlisle had chosen his first turned and Jasper was as bad as a red-headed stepchild. The black sheep. In this instance, he didn’t care.

“Why Jasper? ” 

“Sorry, was I supposed to let Bella bleed out on the living room floor? You know the human you swore was like a daughter to you. The girl you swore to protect. ” 

There was no stopping his rage, it dripped from every word and permeated the air with a heady presence. Whatever Carlisle saw on his face was enough to make him step back and it provided Jasper with the wiggle room to move into his study and start grabbing his identification papers, throwing them on top of his clothes in the duffel.

The soft steps bring Jasper’s head up to see Carlisle blocking the entrance and it does nothing for Jaspers agitation, he wanted to fucking leave. To get out of this shithole that had become the family. He was finally seeing them with clear clarity and what he was seeing was disgusting. He thought he was a monster when he came to them, but they were the bigger monsters. Hiding behind a veneer of humanity.

“Don’t worry. I’m leaving. It’s what you want right. Me gone so you can return to your perfect picture of humanity. ” 

Grabbing the duffel he pushes past Carlisle and heads to the stairs, stopping for a moment he looks over his shoulder. A wicked smirk curling up the edge of his lips. He was no longer Jasper Hale, stood before the Cullen patriarch was Jasper Whitlock. A man who had been dead for far too long.

But was now alive and kicking once more.

“I’m curious about what you’re going to say to Charlie though. After all, he knew Bella was coming here for a party. Guess your little bubble has burst here in Forks. Especially with the dogs. ” he smirks. “After all, Eddie boy now has red eyes. ” 

He doesn’t hang around to see if Carlisle grasped what he was saying. Swinging the duffel bag up on his shoulder he runs downstairs, coming to a stop in front of Bella and picking her up he flits into the garage, his hand opening the door to his truck and placing her inside just as Alice registers what he was doing.

Shutting the door he climbs into the driver's seat just as the Cullen’s pile into the garage, with a malicious smirk in their direction, Bella’s scream of pain her own morbid version of goodbye he starts the car and speeds down the driveway. His only intent to get the fuck out of Forks before they put Edward back together.

God knows, he’d want his toy back.

He didn’t think of where he was going - _lest his mind form a definite decision the pixie would detect_ \- instead his feet simply pressing down on the accelerator and driving in the first direction that popped into his mind. His still obsidian eyes watching the changing human through the rearview mirror, her screams ringing out around the confines of the car and leaving his head spinning. Jasper didn’t dare touch her with his gift, he could vividly remember the burning of his own change and knew this was a fight Bella had to fight alone. She had to burn alone.

 _But he didn’t let her suffer in silence_.

With a precision that came from being a vampire, he allowed his thoughts to process what was needed, his eyes never once straying from the road before him as he allowed his lips to part and begin telling the changing human of her life. The segments he knew. From what he had overheard her tell Edward of her life before coming to Forks and everything that had happened since.

His honey bass wrapping around the words and.praying that she could hear him through the churning of her heartbeat in her ears and the screams ripping her throat raw. The empath couldn’t remember much of his own human life, only the subsequent steps which led to him meeting Maria and didn’t want Bella to forget who she was. The caring compassionate human she had been.

Jasper knew she was flawed and far from as perfect as Edward believed her to be, he had felt her agitation with the people she surrounded herself with at school. Her emotions gave her thoughts away as clear as day and showed that she had the same human weaknesses that Edward had condemned in others. Her emotions were pure though and Jasper often found himself in the relishing cocoon they offered him.

As he gets to the retelling of her recent memories, a smirk flits across the edge of his lips as he remembers the rage she had felt as the controlling actions of her ‘boyfriend’ became clear to her own eyes. Bella wasn’t one to be controlled, she had been independent for much of her life and slowly she’d begun to climb out from under the suffocating shroud that was Alice and Edward.

Jasper had been sitting on the sidelines silently cheering her on, enjoying as she broke out of her cocoon-like some redeeming butterfly and started to find herself. To fight for the things she wanted. Like the party - she had been adamant that she didn’t want one or a present. It was why Jasper had just grouped his up with Rosalie and Emmett’s. He respected her boundaries, whilst at the same time stopping the others of the vagabond family from judging him for not getting her a present.

 _And what a birthday it turned out to be_.

Jasper ignored the part of how she ended up like she was, he would tell her that once she was a newborn if she really wished to know. Instead, he simply starts at the beginning again, his words soft and soothing and it’s with a tint of curiosity he notes her screams quietening down, as though she was desperate to cling to the words he was saying, wanting them to filter into her ears and solidify themselves inside of her mind.

As the Colorado border comes into view just as the sun starts to crest over the horizon, Jasper finds himself thankful for vampire driving. Knowing the original trip should have been over twenty-four hours and yet he managed to cut it in half. Yet he also knew he’d have to get somewhere secluded - quickly - lest Bella’s screams once more gain in memento and garner them some unwanted attention.

_Where to go?_

Shaking his head slowly he allows instinct to guide him as he simply drives and continues to tell the story of Bella’s life. Momentarily he was shocked at how much he knew or had picked up in the short time the human had been a part of their lives, none of it coming from Edward or Alice, but what he had overheard her say herself. Before the empath had no recollection of knowing so much, or of being so intuned with the human, now it was glaringly obvious to even a blind person.

Soon he pulls onto a dirt road and before him stands the old lodge that Peter had talked him into buying twenty years back and to make sure the deed was in the ‘Whitlock’ name, at the time Jasper didn’t know the reason, instead of listening as Alice all but condemned the property she had never laid her eyes on. Meaning in that time he hadn’t even visited, the scents surrounding the one-story building being stale and pungent with traces of wildlife and misuse.

Climbing from the car Jasper allows his gift to expand across the terrain feeling for any emotional signatures, and it’s only as the muted tones of nearby animals flutter back to him that he turns to the back of the car and takes the still changing Bella from within. He moves steadily towards the small lodge and towards where he guessed the bedrooms where.

The lodge was in disrepair and yet the empath couldn’t find a shred of him that cared. It served their purposes at that moment given that in just two short days it would house a newborn. And he knew better than most the destructive tendencies of the newly turned. Bella was bound to break more than he could repair in just her first few days. Some of it would simply be because she didn’t have a handle on the strength, or others would be her intense and frequent mood swings.

Jasper had far more training when it came to newborns - _albeit in a different setting_ \- and thus he was prepared for anything the newly changed Bella was willing to send his way. Especially if she remembered how it was that she changed, with that prevalent emotion Jasper knew would cause an intense hatred to swell within her and only the promise of vengeance and pain would eradicate it. 

He himself had been the same way when he awoke to his second life and let his eyes land on Maria for the first time. The same for Peter when he had locked eyes with Jaspe, just three short days after ripping the male from the life he knew and bringing him kicking and screaming into the one of war.

Jasper settles Bella down on the worn bed situated in the only bedroom, the mattress smelling intensely of damp and mould. It wasn’t pleasant by any means but worked for what they needed. He was keeping up a constant chatter to Bella even as he moved about the small lodge opening every window to air out the dusty air that was saturated into every molecule of the building. His voice raised the further he moved away so that she could still hear it.

After making a mental note of what was needed he makes his way back into the bedroom and settles himself against the wall, the perfect vantage point for watching her change but also farthest away for when she awoke. He knew the process there, she’d attack. Venom would be coated over her eyes leaving her disorientated and her every sense would be assaulted with the new plethora of things she could taste, smell and hear. Then of course once the venom cleared from her eyes and she saw him - _the monster he was_ \- shit would really hit the fan.

He was covered head to toe in scars from his time with Maria, along the creases of his elbow and shoulder sockets were the jagged and healed lines showing his previous dismemberments. Even his head had been removed from his shoulders as a form of punishment. Life with Maria was all about pain, it lived within, pulsing in every breath he dragged into his unneeded lungs till it became second nature.

He knew Jane of the Volturi could create an illusion of pain and Jasper was almost positive it wouldn’t do a damn thing to him. She could only recreate the pain of her change, the feeling of being burnt alive beforehand. But the vampires who served in the Southern Wars knew a pain that Jane would never know, a pain that lived with you even when you’d ran far enough away from it. Even when it had been a good handful of decades since you lived it.

 _It forever lingered_.

Jasper was on his third retelling of Bella’s life and Bella herself was well into the second day of her change when his cell phone rings. The sharp tongue ringing out against the staccato of her screams and he catches her grimacing for the smallest of moments. The tone now registering to her sensitive ears more than it would a human’s. Yet Jasper knew, she still had a long way to go.

Trepidation floods his veins for the smallest of moments as he thinks it would be Alice or Edward on the other end of the line and is relieved to see Peter’s name glaring back at him from the small screen. Pressing the call button he brings the small device to his ear, smirking in uncontrolled glee as he hears the sounds of Charlotte in the background. Rants fluttering off her lips and Jasper just knows Peter was on her shit list at that moment.

“Captain. ” He answers coyly.

“Major – ” Peter’s voice is suave and all but oozing confidence and Jasper finds it’s a calming soothe to the burn of the last few hours. “I must say, ya really walked into tha’ shit pile this time. ” 

A begrudging sigh rips its way out of Jaspers’ throat and flutters down the small speaker. “Yeah, I did that. ” 

Jasper didn’t even need to ask Peter what he knew, he knew his brother would have enough information to know that Jasper was well and truly up shit creek without a paddle. It was his ‘gift’, an intuition that had kept him alive during the vampire cullings and helped to keep his ass alive even now. Though if you asked him, Peter would just say he had voices in his head.

He gave humans with mental issues a run for their money.

Even still, sitting there against the wall as Bella changed not fifty feet from him, he spilt the whole sordid tale to Peter. His voice dropping low as he mentioned her change just in case she heard it and waited. The silence on the other end of the phone was loaded as his brother dissected everything he told him and also used that analytical mind he had to work things out. To give Jasper a lifeline he needed at that moment.

He could and would figure shit out, but right now his mind was focused solely on the changeling, and only once Bella awoke to his second life and he got her through the first few days of her change would he finally be able to straighten his mind out and think of the shit that would soon be coming to their way.

And oh would it be coming their way. He had taken Alice and Edward’s toy. And Carlisle the simpering fool would let them do whatever they wanted to get her back. Even if it meant starting a war.

“Well I can tell ya’, tha’ righ’ now ya safe. Ya runnin’ on instinct which is stoppin’ ya from makin’ decisions tha’ the mutant pixie can detect. ” 

A short breath of relief escapes his lips as he hums. “Yeah, I noticed I wasn’t thinking on my way down here. ” 

A grunt is his only response before Peter starts talking once more. “It ain’t gonna last though, an tha’ means ya gonna have to wade into tha’ storm. ” 

_Oh god_.

To anyone else, those words would be cryptic as fuck and far from fitting for the current situation but Jasper knew them for what they truly meant. And who they truly meant.

“You’re kidding, right? ” Jasper asks incredulously, needing the small confirmation to quell the unease building inside of him.

“I wish I was Major, but ya know as well as I do, she’s tha’ only one who can keep tha’ pixie off ya back. Her mere fucking presence shuts down all vampire powers. Meaning ya can plan and shit within tha’ blindspot. But more than tha’, if Carlisle involves the Volturi by calling in his past friendship with tha’ fuckers. Which ya know he will after selling them a load of bullshit. She’s again tha’ only one who could help navigate it. And if not, we’ll need her fighting skills. ” 

Peter’s words ring of truth and Jasper’s mind swirls with the vision of the woman he was speaking of. No vampire’s gift worked on her, her scent could be masked making her completely untraceable and she had a long-standing history with the Volturi that was far more intertwined than Carlisle’s. But Jasper also knew, she was a damn good fighter. She was older, the oldest person Jasper had ever met and she’d never lost a fight.

He had lost only one fight in his whole second life - _and that was to her_. She became his friend, someone who along with Peter and Charlotte helped to put back the damaged pieces that Maria had destroyed. She was a calming presence who didn’t react when he’d become a moody asshole and instead simply raised a brow before listening as he ranted. And then Jasper did what he was good at, he tarnished their friendship by being an ass. For a good fifty years, he’d been looking over his shoulder wondering if she was going to come and kick his ass. To teach him the proper way to respect a woman of her calibre and he was almost positive he’d have laid down and let her do it.

“Did ya forget she ain’t talking to me? ” 

Peter laughs richly at that. “And ya fuckin’ deserve it. But I’ll do some diggin’ and see if I can’t find her. So brush up on ya apologising skills. Ya gonna need it. I’ll also sort shit out my end before makin’ my way to ya. ” 

“Yeah alright. ” His sigh was suffering, his own emotional cocktail encompassed in that one motion and he was positive Peter could identify it.

“Look, right nah ‘m not gettin’ any gist of what the Cullen’s are up ta’. So tha’ means, for now, ya safe. Use tha’ time to look after the little lady. If anything comes up, I’ll call ya’. ”

The line cuts off and Jasper drops his phone to the floor as his head falls back against the wall of the cabin. He drags in a deep breath as he lets his brother's words swirl within his mind. The fact that Peter would soon be here with him helped to ease the small weight settled on his shoulders. He was a soldier and he needed his captain, his brother, at this moment.

But then soon he once more feels uneasy as he remembers the storm that was coming his way. There was no doubt within him that Peter would find her, fucking hell the ass probably already knew where she was as their friendship had survived. Especially if the gift he’d seen on Peter’s fireplace last time he visited was anything to go back. And Jasper wasn’t sure if he had an apology good enough to fix that rift and repair his own friendship with her. Yet he was man enough to admit he needed her, especially in the delicate situation he had found himself in. So all he could do was hope and pray he said the right words, or he would be losing a few body parts.

Shaking his head though he allows his instincts to once more steel against his thoughts, he couldn’t make any decisions just yet. Alice would no doubt be trailing every inch of the future looking for a glimpse of him and Bella and he had to be the one to keep them safe. He’d taken on the task the moment he removed her from the Cullen house and he wouldn’t fail her.

Instead, he settles back in and resumes telling Bella her life story. Waiting for the moment she’d awake and the true challenge would begin. Or as he was now calling it, phase one.

 _God fucking help him_.


	3. Everything has changed.

**\- Bella -**

Bella thought she knew the burn of the change, the small taste she’d received from James was enough to burn the memory forever into the recess of her mind. She had also been a highly talented klutz and thus knew the sting of pain, yet the burning of venom was like nothing she’d ever known. It rushed through her body leaving her feeling as though flames were licking at each delicate molecule of her body. Burning it away to nothing but frozen ash.

Even subconsciously she tried to grasp onto a remnant of anything, the memory of Jasper’s roar, the ghostly feeling of her father’s arms. The way it had felt the first time she touched Edward’s hand. Anything. Yet all of it was far out of her reach, the pain burning away everything but the feeling of fire in her veins. It swirled inside of her like a molotov cocktail.

Screams rip their way out of her throat with every small part of her praying for the pain to end yet another large part of her, a large part she didn’t want to touch upon. Knew that this was only the beginning and that she had far more coming her way. It was like a neon sign flashing behind her closed lids, screaming at her in the darkness that she was in for a world of hurt.

But if Bella was honest, she’d already fallen into the world of pain. She walked straight through the door the moment her chocolate gaze landed upon the hungry obsidian gaze of Edward Cullen.

Silence parades around her like a twisted torment, her screams the only symphony that plays within her ears. Bella doesn’t hear the murmurs of the vampires around her, nor did she hear the wind passing through the trees. She just heard the desolate sound of nothing. It was disconcerting, the way it sat heavily on her mind. Was she dead, was she alone? Questions that begged answers and yet her throat couldn’t form the words, only the resolute sounds of screams.

Minutes, hours, days pass before she feels chilled fingers grasp at her overheated frame, the smell of leather and gunpowder clinging to her every sense as she feels herself press against the hard planes of a body. Yet before she can curl into the cool relief, it gives way. The feeling of leather that was her new bed and confusion becomes a prominent emotion.

_ What was happening? _

Bella’s screams only grow in strength and she wished her throat would hurry up and give out, allowing the burn of abuse to silence her torment and leave her in complete and utter silence. Let her die with a small blessed relief. Yet every prayer she sent out was answered with emptiness, there was no one to answer her anymore. 

And then she hears it, the honey bass of a voice. It’s cadence breaking through the monotony of her screams and caressing her ears like a lover. Bella can barely make out all the words, her ears too full of - something - and blocking her from hearing each glorified word yet she does manage to grasp hold of certain things. Names.

Renee.

Charlie. 

Edward.

The last name causes an intense purge of hatred to thrash through her system, the intensity of its burn enough to challenge that of the venom. And yet, Bella has no idea why. Each memory was just sitting on the recess of her mind like a misty collage of images and colours that she just couldn’t touch. All of them, out of her reach despite how much she clambered to pull them forward. To understand.

The silence, for a moment she thinks the voice has left her. Left her to burn alone, but then she hears it once more. The smooth cadence repeats the words he’d already spoken and she tries to quieten her screams, the cage them deep in her throat so that she could hear. Listen as her meagre life was condensed into a bunch of sentences and pauses.

This time she’s able to catch each word as it drifts towards her ears, memory after memory swimming forth from the depths of darkness to play out behind her eyes. Each little image searing into her brain bit by bit and she knows, whoever is speaking is giving her the greatest gift - her memories. The prospect of remembering everyone who mattered to her.

_ Renee _ \- her mom - whilst primarily lacking in the department of looking after her child. Renee had always been someone Bella wished she could be. Free-spirited and unafraid to try new things. Bella’s co-ordination meant she couldn’t try most of the things that a carefree Renee undertook. Yet it wasn’t that, that held her back. It was fear, fear to let go. She could see it now, see it for what it truly was. She was scared to lose the part of her that she understood. The quiet hard working, barely talking side that she had constructed over the years. Yet there had always been a part of her craving something more, begging to be released from the internal cage she locked it in. 

_ And now it was probably too late _ .

And then there was her dad - Charlie - memories of summers spent in rainy Forks playing forward and reminding her of just how selfish she had truly been. He had loved her, undoubtedly and wanted nothing more than to be her father. Yet she’d pushed him away, as a child and even more so as an adult when she came to live with him. She had hidden behind the facade of the two being alike, hiding their emotions and needing only small actions to convey them.

Yet she had broken his heart once more. The day she left to escape to phoenix as she callously threw her mother's words back in his face. She had wanted to protect him, yet with the slam of the front door, she left him there, a mess just like her mom. And even if he had forgiven her when she returned, she knew, he was waiting for the moment she’d leave again. His hands hoping to grasp onto hope.

And with one birthday party, it had finally slipped away.

Bella had no idea how far into her change she was. If she was still burning on her first day or was she close to her final moments of humanity. All she could think about was whether Charlie would know by now what had happened. Or what the Cullen's were going to do to keep her police chief father from digging into her disappearance.

Would he survive?

Was he going to be okay?

Each worry slams into her chest with the violent beats of her heart and if she could drown in the sorrow he willingly would. Her selfishness had cost her, her life. But it had cost her parents their daughter. Renee she knew would survive after a time, she had Phil. But Charlie had no one, only friends, but they couldn’t hold him during the night as he drowned in grief.

Her heart broke for her father as she silently prayed to every deity who dared to listen. Prayed that they’d look after him, guide him towards happiness. It was all she could ask for, all she could want for the father who she had hurt so much chasing a dream. A fantasy.

A shrill tone cuts across her hearing and she grimaces whilst trying to shift her body away from the offending tone. It’s high sound ringing in her ears and for a moment able to drown out the fire that is pulsing through her veins. A blessed reprieve that only lasts a few more moments before once more she’s encompassed by the flames. Licking at her skin, scorching it dry as the venom works around her frame.

Idly Bella can note the voice that had been speaking to her now, speaking to someone else. Only a few works registering at first till she hears the sordid tale of her birthday party. Her mind supplied her with the fact that the ‘voice’ had avoided that in the three retellings of her life. So she buckles in and listens.

As each honeyed word settles over her, she finally realises the anger she had for Edward. Her party swims to the forefront of her mind as she watches everything in slow motion. Each emotion plays out for her to read - from Rosalie’s disdain, Emmet’s excitement. Esme and Carlisle’s soft indifference to what their children were doing, not fussed by the fact it was the human’s birthday. Though indulging the two golden children.

Edward.

Alice.

Now Bella could remember the glee on Alice’s face as Edward latched onto Bella’s neck and began to suck her dry, the way the pixie’s eyes danced with an emotion Bella had never seen in those golden eyes before. It spoke of completion, as though all her hard work was finally coming to fruition with a spectacular finale. That finale resulted in Bella being a midnight snack.

Pain lashes through her heart that has nothing to do with the change as she realises her friendship with Alice was nothing but a lie, the pixie having a hidden motivation that no one else knew about. Each action from the moment Bella became her friend leading up to her death. The knowledge that it was all a lie is a wound Bella is positive the venom couldn’t heal, it was now a gaping hole she’d carry for the rest of eternity.

Yet it wasn’t filled with emptiness, it was filled with an unconcealed rage.

And then there was Edward - she wished with a very small part of her that she could forgive him for his actions. She was his singer, after all, her blood was his sweetest temptation. Despite that, Bella found herself hating him as much as she hated Alice.

The two of them had lured her into their sparkly net, using her for their own gain and making promises to the wind that she fell for hook line and sinker. Her eyes of course had slowly started to open, seeing the manipulations for what they were, a game. They took what she said and spun it to their advantage or simply ignored her because she was the weak human and they knew best.

And now for them, she burned.

Every memory plays forward as her honey voice once more retells her story and unlike before where hse revered every memory with Alice and Edward. She now dissects them and can see the deceit playing out like a warning sign. A sign she was too blind to see, blinded by love, a sweet veneer that had dragged her towards her destruction.

_ Thump. Thump. Thump. _

Her heart beats viciously and with every beat, revenge curls in her gut. Bella knew her humanity was close to ending, her heart now encased in flames. Yet the heat is nothing compared to the rage she felt.

_ Thump. Thump. Thump. _

She had been innocent, naive.  _ A plaything _ . They took her and broke everything that made her Bella Swan. 

They stole her humanity.

Bella wished she’d listened to Rosalie and stayed away. Whilst another part of her wished James had finished the job in the ballet studio. She’d have rather died at the hands of a vicious nomad than at the hands of two people she thought cared for her.

It was all lies.

_ Thump. Thump. _

Yet every side had two versions - same with her thoughts. Whilst the largest part of them were swirling in hate and betrayal. Another part couldn’t help but deny every single thought that rushed through her mind, reminding her, screaming at her that Alice and Edward loved her. That if Alice had seen the outcome of the party she’d have warned her, stopped Edward.

She was their friend.

Their sister.

Their girlfriend.

It was a voice she desperately clung to, not wanting to believe that her boyfriend and best friend would betray her. The only salvation that she had found in the dreary town of forks and without it, she wasn’t sure just who she was. They had become her everything and she wasn’t sure who Bella Swan was without Edward and Alice Cullen.

That alone should have been a warning sign.

_ Thump. Thump. Thump. _

_ Thump. _

In morbid synchronization, as the last beat of her heart rang out in her now empty chest, Bella’s eyes snapped open. Welcoming the vision of her new life. No longer was she human, but something that resided in the shadows. A hunter, a monster.

At first, she can’t see anything due to a thick layer of - something - coating her eyes. Obscuring her field of vision, her eyes feeling unnaturally heavy as she blinks to remove the offending item. Though with her eyesight temporarily compromised she can feel her other senses working in overdrive. Her hearing picking up sounds she’d have never heard whilst human, animals in the distance, the sound of the wind dragging over wood. Her tongue tasting the air and leaving her with a mouthwatering collage of tastes that she just wanted more of.

A distant sound -  _ clothing scraping against skin _ \- has her body reacting quicker than her mind can process and in a blink, she feels the hard unyielding feeling of wood at her back. Her body crouched low as her hands curl into morbid recreations of claws. A deep hissing growl falling off her lips as venom surges in her mouth leaving a bitter aftertaste as she growls at the body before her.

The previous hindrance to her sight finally clears and Bella gets her first look at the one who was with her - Jasper. Her mind processes everything at a speed she knew would have left her human self with a headache and whilst, with a hundred percent certainty she knew this was the vampire who she had seen only a few days prior. Now she could see more.

She could see every blonde strand of hair in his honey hair, see the way the light seemed to catch every stand making it seem as though he wore a halo around his head. She could see the way every line of his face showed his age but also the maturity that came with his previous life before becoming a vampire, the different shades that swirled within topaz eyes.

But more than that, Bella could see the scars.

Bella saw them for what they were - vampire bites - the memory of the one claiming her wrist a vivid indicator of just what Jasper went through. A small jolt of sympathy curls deep in her gut at that thought, yet it’s overshadowed by the sheer need to defend herself from the threat before her. 

When she was human her self preservation was at an all-time low, she knew that now. Yet standing before the much more mature vampire, her senses were screaming in a way that she could already feel her body reacting too. Her defensive crouch dropped lower towards the ground as her growl intensified. 

_ And then she attacked _ .

It was as though something else was in control of her body as she coiled like a snake and struck forward, her new stone body slamming into Jasper’s. Her hands clawing at anything she could grasp as her teeth almost instinctively bit down on anything and everything she could reach. Her main goal is the vulnerable area of his neck.

In the distance, as though his voice was coming from some deep dark cavern she can hear the pleads of her name. Jasper’s southern accent ringing out and punctuating each syllable of her name like a knife. It was enough to jolt her back to herself and once more -  _ with a speed she doesn’t understand _ \- she finds herself in the corner from a few moments ago.

Venom dripped off her chin in wild abandon as she stared at Jasper. Her mind was eternally at war with her instincts. One half telling her she was safe, the other telling her he was a threat. The last dregs of her humanity were screaming, screaming loudly that Jasper was safe, that he had saved her. Protected her.

But the larger part, that part of her that was now inhuman - was currently winning the fight.

“Bella — ” Jasper sighs softly. 

Jasper’s own body was relaxed in comparison to her wired one. From where she stood, Bella could see the deep gouges in his clothes that her hands had caused. As well as the huge rip across his shoulder from where she had been trying to gain access to his neck. It was strange, Bella was so used to seeing Jasper put together, not a speck of clothing out of place, yet seeing him like this. It felt … natural.

“Bella — ” Jasper starts once more, his hands still raised in surrender as he regards her.

The feeling of his topaz eyes dragging over her causes the growl in her chest to intensify and she doesn’t hear his words at first. Yet if it bothered him, he doesn’t show it. Instead, he continues on as though she wasn’t growling at him like some feral dog that had decided he was the juiciest bone in existence.

“Bella, how about we see about curing that burn in your throat? Then we can talk. ” 

Those words break through her stupor and the burning in her throat - that had previously just been a nuisance that registered at the back of her mind - intensifies, demanding her complete attention. Yet, despite the fact she was in full agreement with his words, it still takes her a good five minutes to straighten out of the crouch she had been in. 

To shove aside the instincts that were screaming at her. Slowly, far too slowly, Bella reaches out a pale hand and allows Jasper’s much larger one to grasp her fingers. Idly, she notes where his skin would have once been ice cold to her, now it felt like the heat of her human body. They were now the same.

“C’mon little darlin’, let’s get ya fed. ”

Balla doesn’t comment and instead lets him lead her out of the building, her eyes cutting over her shoulder to take in the one-floor building. Her new eyesight finds every small flaw with the wood that before she’d have ignored. Shaking off the distraction she focuses forward as she feels Jasper start to break into a run, her own feet following automatically. Bella wanted to be afraid of the fact she had handed her trust to him so easily, that once more she was allowing someone else to decide for her. Though under the circumstances, Jasper had been a vampire for longer than her, so she should trust his judgement.

Right?

Bella couldn’t say she was completely sure about that. She could only guess that she’d find out if it was a good choice of not sooner or later.

Bella isn’t sure how long they run for, her eyes swivelling in every direction to see the trees and foliage flying past her. She had vehemently hated running with Edward, the memory of the way the wind used to cut into her fragile human skin so fresh in her mind. This time though, she found the true beauty in the art of running.

She dodged and jumped over obstacles as though she had done it a thousand times, her body instinctively knowing what to do when something was in her path. And for the first time since the morning of her birthday, Bella can feel a true smile upturning her lips, a tinkling laugh building in her throat and soon spewing over her lips to cycle into the air between her and Jasper.

Everything had changed. And Bella was more than ready to see in what way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Author's Note** : I don’t have a beta or a proofreader for this story, and I tend to write early hours of the morning (due to being a mother). So I am bound to make some mistakes, if you see any, please do let me know so I can go back and edit them. Please and thank you. Promise I won't take offence.


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